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Background: Home-dwelling older people in need of attention from home care services experience limitations in satisfying their needs for practical help and social contact. Voluntary services can be an important supplement to public health care services. There is, therefore, a need to further develop the cooperation between home care services and voluntary services. Purpose: To describe the experience of collaboration between the home care and a voluntary center in a district in a municipality in southern Norway. Method: A qualitative design was used. A focus group interview with a group of employees from the home care services and a voluntary center was conducted to explore the employees’ experiences in developing and testing a way of communication and coordination of voluntary services. The interview text was analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings: In the analysis two main categories emerged: «Interaction» and «Usability», with the common overall theme: «Complement each other in the patient’s best interest.» Conclusion: A simple mapping chart and related cooperation procedure were perceived as useful and led to increased interaction between the home care services and the voluntary centre and contributed to a positive attitude to work together in the patient’s best interest.

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